Life on Muskrat Creek - by Ethel Waxham Love & J David Love

About the Book

This book tells the fascinating story of a family's day-to-day life on an isolated ranch in early twentieth-century Wyoming. The interweaving of authors accounts of their experience on the Love ranch creates a unique memoir. Combining the perspectives of two genders and two ge...

Book Synopsis

Written by Ethel Waxham Love, a Wellesley College graduate who went to Wyoming in 1905 as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse, and her son, J. David Love, who later became an eminent geologist, Life on Muskrat Creek tells the fascinating story of a family's day-to-day life on an isolated ranch in early twentieth-century Wyoming. Readers will be held in suspense as they learn about the family's battle with a variety of challenges, including a near-fatal bout with Spanish influenza, life-threatening encounters with livestock and wildlife, and disastrous episodes of fires, flooding, blizzards, and drought. The book's depiction of more ordinary events is equally engaging; Ethel describes becoming a wife and raising children without the support of neighbors, women friends, or a wider family network, and David recounts growing up in a wild and remote place where there was no local school to attend. Readers from all walks of life will find Life on Muskrat Creek to be a lively and provocative book.

Review Quotes

"Life on Muskrat Creek is a riveting account of the realities of life on an isolated ranch in the early years of the Twentieth Century, a must-read for all who wonder what life was like back in "the good old days."" --Story Circle Book Reviews

""Wyoming doesn't have a lot of great writers," said Dr. Sherry Smith, a professional historian. Ethel Waxham Love was an exception. Love moved to Wyoming in 1905. Life on a rural, isolated ranch was a far cry from her Wellesley College background, and she wrote about her experiences throughout her life. . . "She had a wonderful sense of humor and gives great insights into what it was like to live in Wyoming in the early 20th century," Smith said. The Love family's newest book, "Life on Muskrat Creek: A Homestead Family in Wyoming," tells more about their family history." --Jackson Hole News & Guide

"Life on Muskrat Creek is well written and engaging, with dramatic, vivid, and often suspenseful stories. The material does much to enrich our understanding of ranching in early twentieth-century Wyoming, especially women's and children's experiences." --Cathryn Halverson, University of Copenhagen, author of Faraway Women and The Atlantic Monthly and Playing House in the American West

"The story of Ethel Waxham and John Love is one of the most poignant and memorable tales in the history of the West, where dreams and harsh realities have always collided. Life on Muskrat Creek is an important and unforgettable chronicle of hope and hardship in the real West." --Dayton Duncan, author of Out West: A Journey through Lewis & Clark's America

"Life on Muskrat Creek is an immensely informative and yet riveting account of the incredible hardships experienced by John and Ethel Love while ranching in Wyoming between 1910 and 1925. Ethel's writing sparkles with description, and here forms an excellent contrast to the grim facts David and the editors recount." --Linda M. Hasselstrom, author of Gathering from the Grassland: A Plains Journal

About the Author

Frances Love Froidevaux (1942-2011) taught French and ESL and founded the Bartlesville, OK, school system's first foreign language program.

Barbara Love has worked as an archaeologist, ESL and English professor, and freelance editor.